1 of 15 A peer-reviewed scholarly journal Editor: Gene V Glass College of Education Arizona State University Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the EDUCATION POLICY ANALYSIS ARCHIVES EPAA is a project of the Education Policy Studies Laboratory. Articles appearing in EPAA are abstracted in the Current Index to Journals in Education by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation and are permanently archived in Resources in Education Volume 12 Number 24June 8, 2004ISSN 1068-2341Effective Technological Delivery in Nigerian Polyte chnics: Need for Academic Manpower Development Policy J. K. Adeyemi University of Benin (Nigeria) E. E. Uko-Aviomoh University of Benin (Nigeria)Citation: Adeyemi, J., Uko-Aviomoh, E., (2004, June 8). Effective technological delivery in Nigerian p olytechnics: Need for academic manpower development policy. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12 (24). Retrieved [Date] from http://epaa.asu.edu/epa a/v12n24/.AbstractTechnical education, especially as provided in the Nigerian polytechnics, leads to the acquisition of practical and applied skills as well as basic scientific knowledge. The p roduction function of the polytechnics in terms of producing quality middle-level manpower through effective teaching de livery depends largely on the quantity and quality of teac hers available. However, teacher adequacy is a function of many fac tors, which include funding, student enrollment overtime, and s taff turnover. This article, however, revealed a mismatch between enrollment and available teachers, with huge staff shortfall o ver the years when the student enrollment was matched with the av ailable teachers, using the ideal teacher-student ratios. S tudent and teacher projections were carried out based on fivepercent annual increase and average teacher-student ratio of 1:12, so as to meet the vision 2010 target year set by the Nigerian gov ernment for total development. The projection showed that the p olytechnics would require a large additional number of teachers An all-inclusive funding approach for the polytechnics was recommended so as to increase their financial statu s, which would allow for improved facilities, workshops, equ ipment and also improved conditions of service of teachers. We believe that if this was done, more teachers would be attracted fro m across the

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2 of 15 world, those who left would return, and new and you nger ones will be encouraged to join the teaching force. Such deve lopment would to a great extent meet and sustain the antici pated growth for the target year.IntroductionTechnical education is that aspect of education, wh ich leads to the acquisition of practical and appli ed skills as well as basic scientific knowledge. Encyc lopedia Britannica (2001) described it as the academic and vocational preparation of students for jobs involving applied science and modern technology. The general objectives are the preparat ion of graduates for occupations that are classed above the skilled craft but below the scientific or engineering profession. The National Policy on Education (FRN 1981, 1998) identified five types of technical education institutions outside the universities. They are pre-vocational and vocationa l schools at post-primary levels; technical college s, polytechnics and colleges of technical teacher educ ation at post-secondary school. In Nigeria, technical education had a slow start an d developed less quickly than other forms of education. In fact, the first technical college was established in 1948 at Yaba, Lagos (Fafunwa, 1992) This was partly due to the fact that the Europeans, who were the harbingers of western learning, were unable to popularize it on the same scale as litera ry, religious and pedagogical form of education whe n they colonized the sub-Sahara Africa, including Nig eria. Batagarawa (2001), who was a minister of state for education in Nigeria, however, adduced th e low pace of technical education in the country to the fact that it is expensive to develop and sustai n, partly because of its high resource requirements Nevertheless, the importance of technical education and technology to sustainable development cannot be overemphasized. This is because tomorrows world will demand highly qualified specialists and increasingly flexible generalists (World Bank, 2000 ). No wonder the National Policy on Education believes that technical education would provide the technical knowledge and vocational skills necessary for agricultural, industrial, commercial and economic development through the provision of well trained sub-professional grade and middle-leve l manpower (NPE, section 6, sub section 49). In fact, recognising that technical education forms th e basis of the nations technological development, the Federal Government had substantially increased its e xpenditure in this field in the Third National Development Plan period (3rd National Development P lan, 1975  1980). Consequent upon the earlier neglect of technical ed ucation and sudden realization of this type of education by government as the panacea for technolo gical emancipation and national development, the National Board for Technical Education was created in 1977 through decree number 9. The board is saddled with the responsibility of coordinating tec hnical education by setting standards for schools i n term of facilities, teaching manpower and accrediti ng courses from time to time. It is also to advise government on all aspects of technical education th at fall outside the universities. Nigerian governme nt has finalized plan to establish the National Polyte chnics Commission to manage only the polytechnics (The Guardian, Tue, 18/3/2003).Ever since, there has been a phenomenal expansion i n technical institutions. From one technical college in 1948, the country now has 46 polytechnic s, with various programmes for both the pre-National Diploma and Diploma students as of 199 7/98 session. In addition, there are 89 monotechnics, 8 colleges of Education (Technical) f or training teachers for post-primary technical and vocational education programmes and 138 technical c olleges (FOS 1999/2000, NBTE, 2000; Federal Ministry of Education, 2000, Yakubu, 2000; and Aina 2000). Enrollment has also witnessed a significant growth. For example, Polytechnic enrollment has ris en from 17,485 in 1986/87 to 104,686 in 1990/91 and to 192,979 in 1997/98 and 237775 in 1999/2000 ( Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, 2000, Adegbile, 2000). There is no gainsaying that curric ulum planning and physical expansion without adequate and sustainable human and material resourc es would definitely fail to produce the desired results. This brings us to the thrust of this disco urse, which are the teaching manpower requirements for technical education, especially in the country s polytechnics. Teachers play great facilitative role in teaching-l earning process. In spite of the advancement in sci ence and technology, the teacher is not yet displaced in the classroom nor has his important role in education diminished (Aghenta, 1998). Even Fredenco Mayo, Director-General of UNESCO emphasized the important role of teachers in techni cal and vocational education programmes at the

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3 of 15 second international congress in Seoul, South Korea (26 April, 1999). Similarly Tarpeh (1994) remarked that academic staff are the mainstay of any institu tion and their number and quality affect the effici ency of teaching and learning process. He described them as a crucial input in the transformation of studen ts and research into graduates and knowledge and solut ions of societal problems. Unfortunately, the situation with technical educati on teachers, especially in terms of quantity is hig hly precarious in Nigeria. In 1980, the Nigerian Educat ional Research Council (NERC) set an indicative targets for teaching staff and student enrollment f or the nations polytechnics and technical colleges. The councils teaching staff target by 1997/98 was put at 66800, with about 1.3 million student enrollment; and for 2000 AD, teaching staff target was put at 72900, with about 1.4 million student enrollment with teacher-student ratio of 1:20. (NER C, 1980). Unfortunately the targets were far from being met. As of 1997/98, actual teaching staff in the polytechnics and technical colleges was 9370, student enrollment was 248080, given an average tea cher: student ratio of 1:27. According to NERC, the enormity of such a venture is without question but we have no choice in the matter if we must develop (NERC, 1980:52). The situation on the grou nd is, however, not promising. Corroborating the situation, (Ogunnowo, 1992; Nwaoko lo, 1997; Olaitan, 1997; principals annual report for Federal Technical Colleges, 1998; and Aina, 200 0) all submitted that there is problem of inadequat e qualified teachers at almost all levels and types o f education in Nigeria. In fact the technical colle ges principals annual report stated in the following w ords: The picture of staffing depicts total weakness in a ll trade areas This low level teaching faculty cannot formulate and deliver adequate skill training no matter the pretensions to the contrary the dearth of adequately qualified teach ers for the technical colleges is already a national crisis. The national policy on education seemed to have env isaged this problem. It is stated in section 6, sub-section 5 that  government is aware that only limited facilities ex ist for technical teachers education  and that  a conscious effort to expand the facilities for the training of technical teachers shall be made, particularly since the new structure wil l require many more teachers. The extent to which this has been done is part of the thrust of this pa per. In a survey on teacher supply-demand carried out by the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) as reported by Onugha (1 997) revealed a high student: teacher ratios in all the technical disciplines a pointer to ina dequate teachers. Even the World education report b y UNESCO (1995) identified the sub-Sahara Africa of wh ich Nigeria is a part, as the worst in term of number of teachers available for the third level ed ucation, where we have the polytechnics. The report showed that in 1992, of the 5.19 million teachers a vailable, the region shared 0.09 million; while Ara b states, 0.14 million; Latin America/Caribbean, 0.67 million; Eastern Asia/Oceanic 0.77 million; China, 0.39 million; Southern Asia, 0.53 million; India, 0 .42 million and so on. Not to mention the developed countries.Many problems have be-deviled the educational syste m in recent past. The problem of under-funding has alone inhibited the development of teaching man power programmes. According to Aina (2000), in the past, technical teachers were trained abroad, b ut this has ceased due to the fallen value of the countrys currency and dwindling economy. There is problem of brain drain too, either to foreign countries to seek greener pastures or to lucrative industries within the country (NUC, 1995; and Adeyemi 2000). Sofolahan (1991) had expressed conce rn that many of the technical teachers sent abroad never returned, and those that returned foun d their ways into industrial and commercial sectors in spite of the bond signed with government.This portends a looming crisis that could definitel y affect the quality of middle level manpower produ ced in the technical institutions, especially in the po lytechnics, and consequently the nations technolog ical development. This paper is therefore premised on th e contention that there is disequilibrum in the demand-supply of technical education teachers. Ther efore the article analyzed the degree and pattern of the dis-equilibrum; projected for future needs; and also made useful suggestions; making the nation s polytechnics as reference point.Teacher demand-supply mix for technical education

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4 of 15 It is recognized that with the best of educational policy and design, and even high fiscal input to education, the ultimate achievement of educational objectives depend largely on the quantity and quality of teachers. The quality and quantity of gr aduates produced would also reflect the worth of th e available teachers. Therefore to determine the dema nd-supply gap in the production and allocation of teachers to any institution, student enrollment tre nd must be ascertained. This is necessary for reasonable projection for future development.For this paper, teacher demand connotes the ideal n umber of teachers required for the polytechnics. On the other hand, supply connotes the actual number of teachers available during the years of study. Two planning models are very relevant to this disco urse. They are: Higbees demand models (Higbee, 1981) and the Cobb-Douglas production function mode ls used by Manga and Silver (1983). The Cobb-Douglas production function model suggested th at in order to obtain an equilibrium state in any production system, the growth in output can be incr eased only by increasing either the number of its productive workforce or their powers. In the school system, to establish equilibrium, growth in studen t enrollment must be accompanied by a proportionate g rowth in staff strength (Osahon, 1997). This is because according to Zymelman (1993) and World Bank (1995), disequilibrium in the enrollment-staffing relationship weakens the effica cy and quality of the school systems production functions.On the other hand, Higbee (1981) in his demand model s for academic staff planning identified some form of formula for determining the number of acade mic staff required by an academic unit-college, faculty, school, department, etc. He divided these into two types: student/faculty ratios and work loa d formula. The student faculty/college ratios is ada pted for this paper in determining the academic sta ff need of the nations polytechnics. It consists of e ither simple ratio or more sophisticated ones containing weighting co-efficient for various types of students. This is simplified inform of student:teacher ratio as prescribed by World Bank ( 1995), which described the model as one overall measure of staff efficiency in schools.By this model, there are ideal (demand) and actual (supply) ratios. Where the actual ratio is found to be greater than the approved ratio, which is statutori ly recommended in most cases implies over-utilizati on of academic staff, vise versa, with attendant conse quences on production function. According to National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) (1981), the following teacher: student ratios are recommended: for practice-oriented trade courses, such as woodwo rk, metalwork, electronics etc., the ideal ratio is 1:15 and 1:20 as the upper limit; for practice-oriented core courses in the general s cience department such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, the lower limit of teacher: student ratio of 1:18 and upper limit of 1:25. For other courses in the general education departme nt in which classes are held in classrooms, the normative teachers: student ratio of 1:40 is re commended. The above is, however, for technical colleges. For the Monotechnics and Polytechnics, the ratios recommended are: 1:8 for technological-based disciplines and 1:16 for management and art disciplines: This gives a 1:12 average ratio. Today, there is a phenomenal rise in student enroll ment at all levels of education, which (Omoregie and Hartnett, 1995; UNESCO, 2000) observed could not be matched by the growth in the number of teachers.Table 1 shows the trend in student enrollment and t eaching staff between 1993/94 and 1999/2000 sessions. The table reveals that the annual average percentage growth of 10.75 for student enrollment is higher than that of teaching staff, which is 7.3 %. This is an indication of academic mismatch (Osahon, 1997). Table 1. Trend in student enrollment and teaching sta ff in Nigerian Polytechnics:19932000

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5 of 15 YearEnrollment% GrowthTeaching staff% GrowthOverall Teache r:student ratio 1993/94124000 -4960 -1:251994/9515124721.95258 6.01:291995/96150391-0.75371 2.21:281996/9717845618.760913.71:291997/98192699 8.16483 6.11:301998/9921615912.06755 4.21:32 1999/2000233612 8.00753611.61:31 Average 10.75 7.3 Source: Federal Office of Statistics (1995, 1999, 2000) Annu al Abstract of statistics, Abuja, FOS. 1. Federal Ministry of Education (2000) Statistics on Student Enrollment in Technical Colleges, Colleges of Education, Monotechnics and Polytechnic s, Abuja, FME 2. National Board For Technical Education (1999) Diges t of Statistics, Kaduna, NBTE. 3. Yakubu, N.A. (2000) Identification and Assessment of Resource Requirements in Technical and Vocational Education in Nigeria A Seminar paper. 4. Table 2 compares the ideal teacher: student ratios as recommended by the National Board for Technical Education for the science/technological-b ased and Management/Art-based courses (NBTE, 1981); The table shows a general wide gap between t he recommended and actual ratios in most of the courses. The gap is phenomenal with the management courses, such as Accountancy/Financial studies, Business Administration/Management; Bankin g and Finance and Insurance. Their ratios range between 1:33 for Insurance to as high as 1:119 for Accountancy/Financial studies as against the recommended ratio of 1:16. This implies a very high enrollment that is not matched with the required teaching staff. The implications of such developmen t could be inimical to effective teaching-learning process. The same goes for some technologically bas ed disciplines, such as Chemical Engineering, Mining Engineering, Electrical/Electronics with ave rage of about 1:28 teacher: student ratio. The patt ern of observed ratios in most disciplines suggested an over-utilization of teachers in the polytechnics. No wonder, the academic union of the nations polytech nics, like their university counterparts have demanded for the payment of excess workload allowan ce, which they are now earning. But the question is can one teacher perform the duty of two teachers effectively? This paper does not believe that there could be effective delivery.Another problem traceable to high ratios observed f or the management disciplines is the trend in the country today, whereby most applicants to polytechn ics and even universities tend to prefer management disciplines so as to eventually work in banks, insurance companies, finance houses, oil companies, etc. which pay better than most other se ctors. These institutions in most cases admit the students irrespective of the rules guiding admissio n and even the available resources, especially teachers. For instance, Adeyemi (2001) found that there was no Nigerian university that was complying with the 60:40 admission ratio for science/technolo gy and Art/Social Sciences/Humanities as recommended by the National Policy on Education (FGN 1998). The ratio is 70:30 for the Polytechnics (FGN, 1998). The problem of compliance with the admi ssion could be attributed to the low level of interest the post-primary students show for the sci ence and technical education. This seemingly low interest can also be attributed to many factors, su ch as inadequate science materials, poor laboratories, and inadequate and dysfunctional work shops. Such situation could have contributed to the tendency for most Nigerian school leavers to prefer management courses, social sciences and humanities. Table 2. Teacher: student ratios by selected discipli ne for Nigeria Polytechnics

7 of 15 However, table 2 also shows that few courses have v ery low ratios, thereby giving room to under-utilization of teachers. They include Textile technology, Arts & Design and Printing technology with ratios that are far less than the recommended ones. The calculated ratios in table 2 reveal a high shor tfall in the stock of the teaching staff available to the polytechnics for the years under review. This short fall is shown in table 3, based on the average teacher: student ratio of 1:12. Table 3. Student enrollment, actual and ideal teachi ng staff difference YearStudent enrollment Actual teaching staff Ideal teaching staff based onaverage teacher:student ratio of1:12 Ideal/Actual difference (shortfall) 1993/94124000496010333 53731994/95151247525812604 73461995/96150391537112533 71621996/97178456610914871 87621997/98192699648316058 95751998/9921615967551801311258 1999/200023361275361946811932 Calculated by the authors from Table 2. Table 3 shows a huge shortfall for the years, rangi ng from 5373 teachers for 1993/94 to 11932 teachers for 1999/2000. In all the years, the shortfall is h igher than the actual. This observation should be a serious concern to educational managers.Causes of shortage of technical teachersThe adequacy of teaching staff to any level of educ ation is strategic to the quality of instructional delivery. And in Nigeria the above data analysis ha s shown a drastic downward trend in respect to adequacy of polytechnic teachers. A lot of factors can be adduced. These include the admission explosion, under-funding of higher education and te chnical education in particular; dwindling national economy; issue of brain-drain and perception of tec hnical education disciplines as tough. The urge for admission into higher education in the country has phenomenally increased enrollment. Most institutions do not respect the admission guid elines and quotas. The income to be generated from certain fees paid seems to be over-riding the sense of judgement. This has led to situations where enrollment far outstrips the available resources, i ncluding teachers. It takes a long time to produce teacher for this level of education.Secondly, the downturn in the nations economy has been identified as the major cause of all educational problems for the past one and half deca des. Ten years ago, the country could only allocate about 1.4% of her GNP to education; while countries like Ghana, Zimbabwe and Malaysia allocated 4%, 8.5% and 7.1% respectively of their GNP to educa tion. (Daily Times, 2-12-93). The situation still remains the same as of 2003. The country could only allocate 1.8% of the 2003 budget to education (Academic Staff Union of Universities, 2003). This is why the union has been on strike to protest this near neglect of education by successive governments The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has equally expressed its displeasure. The low allocati on has seemingly affected all aspects of education in general and technical education in particular.The poor allocation has led to under-funding of the polytechnics and other institutions. Facilities ha ve degenerated and teaching equipment to the dissatisf action of teaching staff. In addition the condition of service became unattractive to newcomers and repuls ive to serving teachers. All these either discouraged brilliant young scholars from taking up teaching job or led to the brain-drain syndrome.

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8 of 15 Many teachers are either leaving the polytechnics f or greener pasture outside the country or even lucrative industries that require in large number t he skill and services of technological-oriented sch olars within the country. In a study conducted on the phe nomenon of brain-drain in two polytechnics in Nigeria by Giwa (2000), it was revealed that withdra wal/transfer of service and resignation of teaching staff were tested to be significant and that their directions were mainly to cross to universities, manufacturing industries, while some went on privat e business. Describing the pathetic picture of Nigerias higher education, polytechnics inclusive, Yesufu (1996) as cited in Opatola (2001:2002) stated:  the student: teacher ratios are worsening in virt ually all disciplines. Laboratories are either non-existence or completely demanded of esse ntial equipment and experimental consumables, libraries cry out for funding. Teacher s are grossly underpaid and many have had to seek how to keep body and soul together. Man y others have abandoned academics to the greener pastures of the private industry, th e banks, and consultancies. Part-time jobs and moonlighting have become the rule than exceptio n. Today, teachers in the tertiary institutions are mo ving out en-mass to join politics, which has been made so lucrative in the country.The implications of under-funding on teaching staff turnover portend danger to the future of technical education in general and polytechnics in particular The technological take-off of the country could b e in disarray. The high rate of staff attrition is not g ood for quality assurance in the polytechnics. More experienced teachers are leaving, while brilliant y oung graduates are not encouraged by the situation. At the same time, less qualified people are being r ecruited to fill the gap. In this case, the deliver y system of quality technological education would def initely be in jeopardy. Onokherhoraye and Nwoye (1995) corroborated this as they asserted that the attrition of quality and experienced academic staff could result in poor standard.Another probable cause of shortage of teaching staf f in the nations polytechnics could be attributed to the general notion that science and technological d isciplines are tough to pursue right from secondary schools, not to mention of pursuing them to post-gr aduate level that could qualify one to be a teacher at this level. In addition, it is not an easy task to pursue post-graduate programs in Nigerian universit ies nowadays because of the poor state of laboratories and workshops. At the same time the poor state of the nations economy has affected overseas sponsors hips.Projecting for future teaching staff requirement fo r the polytechnicsFrom the above analysis, the dearth of technical te achers in the polytechnics seems to have reached a crisis proportion judging from the huge figures rep resenting the shortfall for various years. The anal ysis also showed a steady yearly increase in student enr ollment, which ceteris paribus is likely to continue. And bearing in mind the place of technical educati on in the transformation of a nation, it is important to project into the future needs of this type of education. For instance, the  vision 2010 plan document that was prepared in 1997 by the Federal Government is aimed at putting the country on the path of radical future development. Its scope c overs all sectors, including technological and educational sectors. On education, the document is m ainly on students, increased funding and adequate teachers (FGN, 1997).Based on the nations vision, the paper projected t he yearly additional teachers that would be require d in the nations polytechnics from 2000/2001 to 2009 /2010. To achieve this, student enrollment during this period was first projected, using UNESCO (1969) formula, as used by Osahon (1997) and Adeyemi (2001). The formula, states: Pn = Po (1 + r), Where, Pn = Enrollment in year n, Po = Enrollment in year proceeding n r = Annual rate of growth

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9 of 15 For the higher education, r is held constant at 5% (Onokerhoraye and Nwoye, 1995:118). To project the number of additional teachers required for the peri od, the average teacher:student ratio of 1:12 recommended by the NBTE was used and held constant. The finding is shown in Table 4. In Table 3, it is shown that the actual teaching st aff as of 1999/2000 was 7536, while the ideal teach ing staff was 19468, given a shortfall of 11932. From t his situation, one can easily predict a very gloomy future with regard to teaching manpower in the nati ons polytechnics and technological education in general if radical and aggressive approaches are no t employed. The problems entail coping and filling the shortfall before dealing with the additional pr ojected figure. As shown in table 4, to achieve opt imal efficiency and effectiveness of technical education delivery in our polytechnics, it would require 317 11 teachers for 380532 students by the target year, al l things being equal, with average annual additiona l teachers required. This implies that an additional 12243 teachers plus the stock of 19468 in the base year (1999/2000) will be required for year 2010, wh ich is the target year. Table 4. Student enrollment and teaching staff projec tion for Nigerian Polytechnics: 2000/01 to 2009/10 YearStudent Enrollment (Projection) Ideal Teaching Staff (Projection) Additional Teaching Staff required annually. 1999/200023361219468 (Po) 2000/2001245293204419732001/20022575582146310222002/20032704362253610732003/20042839582366311272004/20052981562484612432005/20063130642608912432006/20073287172739313042007/20083451532876313702008/20093624113020114382009/2010380532317111510 Average1224Conclusion and recommendationsHuman resource has been the hub on which other reso urces in any organization revolve. In any school system, especially the polytechnics, which are cent res for technical and technological education, the place of teaching manpower is very crucial in quali tative and quantitative production of middle-level manpower for the development of the nation. Inciden tally, the country rests her hope on technology as a pad for developmental take-off. Unfortunately, on e can conclude from the foregoing analysis that there is an overall gross inadequacy of teachers in the nations polytechnics. This situation cannot b e, however, divorced from the downturn in the nations economy that has lowered financial allocation to education sector; especially technical education, t hereby affected the training and re-training of teaching staff in all the polytechnics, both within and outside the country. This situation has create d a high teacher:student ratios across most discipline, which could seriously jeopardize the effectiveness of technical education delivery, especially in the nea rest future if urgent solution is not proffered. It is therefore recommended that an all inclusive f unding arrangement be made to solve the problem of under-funding of the polytechnics; since it seems t hat government allocation alone could no longer cope with the running of the polytechnic education. Reasonable school fees should be charged to augment government allocation. Private and public c ompanies should be made to contribute certain percentage of their annual profit after tax to tech nical education in general, and polytechnics in